The planting of seed for the growing of crops has developed from the casting of seed by hand to using disc furrow openers, press drills and packers. The above carried with them the need for a well cultivated soil for a seed bed. With the advent of minimum or zero tillage for seed bed preparation new methods and implements became necessary. The zero tillage evolved to soil conservation and a saving in time and money to make the arming operation competitive. The zero tillage has the disadvantages of heavy previous crop residue and difficult precise penetration of the unworked soil for proper seed and fertilizer deposition.
Several attempts have been made to overcome these disadvantages as seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,075 to Halford U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,914 to Schaaf et al and in Canadian patent 1,178,851 to Dreyer et al. In patent "075" there is disclosed a machine that requires the total machine to be lowered to working position, the operator is required to adjust the packer/depth control wheel of each individual unit by adjusting rods. Applicants machine, implement or apparatus in contrast utilizes a hydraulic system with each seed row assembly having a separate cylinder for depth and packing control fed by a hydraulic source controlled by a combination adjustable pressure and release valve with no lowering or raising of the frame being required.
In patent "914" there is disclosed a seed drill having a hoe bed pivotally attached to a frame and carrying a multiplicity of hoe point means rigidily attached thereto. A single hydraulic piston is provided for depth control of the complete hoe bed. In contradistinction applicants device provides a multiplicity of independent seed row assemblies for dispensing fertilizer and seed and each independent seed row assembly is operated by a separate hydraulic cylinder fed from a hydraulic source controlled by a combination adjustable pressure and release valve.
In Canadian patent "851" there is shown a parallelogram type frame seed row assembly controlled by a spring adjusted by a central adjusting device in the form of a crank handle and a lifting hydraulic cylinder for transporting. Applicants device has separate seed row assemblies made operational by separate hydraulic cylinders which achieve ground penetration and lifting for transport and are fed by a source controlled by a combination adjustable pressure and release valve. It is also to be noted that applicants device deposits the fertilizer before and below the seed.